


Broken Telephone

by Macadamanaity



Category: Sarah Jane Adventures
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-12-20
Updated: 2010-12-20
Packaged: 2017-10-13 19:53:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/141152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Macadamanaity/pseuds/Macadamanaity
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five conversations about something else.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Broken Telephone

**Author's Note:**

  * For [curiosa](https://archiveofourown.org/users/curiosa/gifts).



> Spoilers through Goodbye Sarah Jane Smith. With great thanks to [Raven](http://archiveofourown.org/users/singlecrow/pseuds/Raven) for the beta.

“Luke, I am your father.”

Luke smiled at this peculiar greeting, and put on a stern voice.

“Shut it, Clyde, that’s not going to confuse me any more.  I was bound to see Star Wars eventually, you know.  Sanjay told me it was a crime I hadn’t already.”

“Smart bloke, Sanjay.  Maria and I talked about showing you it once, but that was early on and figured it’d be too confusing.  And after that we’d been in so many of our own fights the ones on the telly seemed a bit silly, you know? But go on--what’d you think?  Was the science totally bogus?  Have you figured out how to make a lightsaber?”

Silence.

“Lukey, you there? Did the call drop?”

Silence.

“Earth to Luke?”

Silence.

“Luke, you’re not mad we didn’t show you, are you?”

Silence.

“Look, mate, I’m sorry. I know you don’t like being left in the dark with pop culture references it’s just-”

He was cut off by the incredibly accurate roar of a Wookie.

And that was all they said to each other the rest of the night because Clyde broke his mobile when he dropped it laughing.

\---

“Maria!”

“Hey, Luke!  Did I catch you at a good time?”

“Yeah, definitely. Just walked into my flat.”

“Great, it’s been ages!  How are you?  How’s uni treating you?”

“Oh, it’s brilliant.  The work is really interesting.  What have you been up to?  In America, you’re called a senior, yeah?”

Maria made affirming noises.

“Yep, and I’ve pretty much just been up to school work--studying for these SAT test for uni is rubbish.  Oh! And I joined a field hockey team at school.  Not having many aliens to run after and defeat left me with some pent up energy! And speaking of--any academic alien invasions?”

“Well, there was this group of aliens that came from a library planet that wanted to rearrange the entire world by their own organizational principles.”

“Oh my god, what happened?”

“We had a long talk about it and their system was very logical, so I almost let them have a go at it.”

“WHAT!?”

“But then they became completely fascinated by the Dewey Decimal System, so Mr. Smith and I managed to get them internships at the Library of Congress and sent them over your way.”  

At this point Luke was unable to suppress a slight giggle.

“You complete wanker!  When did you get to be the straight man?”

“They do say university is the time to explore your sexuality...”

Maria accidentally hung up.  When Luke called her back she was still snickering.

\---

“Hi, Rani.”

“Hey Luke.  Look, I only have a mo--mum is having me run over a few things to the store.  You know, if I had known she’d been pushing me to get my license not to be independent but to be free labour, I might have not bothered!”

“That sounds like her!  In any case, I just called to ask how my mum’s doing.”

“Why? Haven’t you talked to her since you went back?”

Luke heard the sound of the van’s door slamming.

“Yeah, of course.  But--you know her. She never wants me to worry. And I know Mr. Smith gave her a clean bill of health after we sent Ruby away, but I know she was pretty shaken up.”

“She wasn’t the only one!”

“About that--Rani, I am so sorry about what I said to you.  Having you and Clyde around is really, really good for her and I wanted you to know that--”

Rani cut him off.

“Luke, Luke, it’s fine. Really. I was talking about me, but yeah, we were all pretty scared.  You don’t have to apologize for that.  And I think Sarah Jane is doing much better.  Last time I saw her she was even investigating a dodgy dry cleaners.”

“Run by aliens?”

“Nah, they just shrunk her favourite trouser suit. Catch them doing that again!”

\---

“Hi Mum!  Clyde, Rani.  And Mr. Smith.”

The tinny speakers of his computer were filled with simultaneous exclamations of,

“Hi Luke!”

“Hey Luke!”

“Hey Lukey-boy!”

“Greetings, Luke.”

He waved, and Sarah Jane beamed for a moment, before calling,

“Hello to K-9 as well!”

“Oh, he’s not here.”

“What? Where is he?”

“He’s started taking daily constitutionals around--”

“Mistress, Master Luke is engaging humour mode.  I remain in his room out of sight as you requested.”

Rani and Clyde were already laughing at the look of annoyance on Luke’s face.

He sighed exaggeratedly. “There goes my plans of starting a human-robot dog, two-being stand-up comedy team!”

Clyde buffed his nails on his shirt before adding with swagger, “The force is with you, young Smith, but you are not a Jedi yet.” 

\---

“Clyde, you awake?”

“Mrpmmpf.”

“Sorry, it’s too late. I’ll just call back later.”

“Nah, s’cool.  What’s up? You okay?  We just spoke like six hours ago.”

“Yeah, I’m fine. I mean.  It’s just this thing. I didn’t know how to bring it up with mum there.”

He paused for a bit.  Clyde yawned loudly.

“Is ‘this thing’ bigger than a breadbox?  Vegetable, mineral, animal?”

“... I got your video.”

“My video? What are you on about.”

“The one you made in the Katesh prison on your phone. Just before you passed out.”

Clyde hung up.

Luke’s phone rang eight minutes later.

“Sorry.”

“It’s all right.  I  just couldn’t pretend I hadn’t seen it.  When mum told me she’d seen the video I made about the Nightmare Man, it was weird, but less weird than if I found out she’d seen something that personal of mine and not told me, you know?”

“Yeah, it’s okay.  Honestly, I was so out of it I only have really fuzzy memories of making it.  I must have hit send when K-9 teleported me back to the attic. I guess Rani and Sarah Jane have seen it too?”

“I don’t think so--it looks like it was just sent to me.”

“I must have figured you’d have the best chance of keeping away from and stopping Ruby.”

“Do you want to know what you said?”

Clyde snorted.  

“My dying words to the three people I love the most besides my mum, who wouldn’t understand?  I already have an idea of what kinds of embarrassing things came out, thanks.”

“Clyde--”

“But seriously Luke, delete it.  We all lived--let’s just put it behind us.”

“Yeah. Of course.  Sure.  And you know--you’re my best mate too. Really.”

Clyde took a deep breath and let it out.

“Actually.”

“What?”

“What did I say to Rani?”

“I... don’t know.  You sort of...passed out before the end.  What did you want to say?”

“I don’t know either.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

There was companionable silence for another minute.

“Luke?”

“Yeah, Clyde.”

“I think I passed out before I said whatever it is I would have said to you too.”

Luke waited, before offering.

“It’s late. We should probably go to bed.”

“Was already in bed, before someone rang me at an ungodly hour.”

“Call you tomorrow after class?”

“You bet.”

“Good night, Clyde.

“Night, Luke. Say good night to K-9 for me too.”

They rang off to a distant sound of a Wookie howling.


End file.
